Thread: Is consciousness consistant?

Without memories of your previous life, what sort of continuity do you think there would be to make it the same consciousness?

You talk about your consciousness as if it were an entity, a separate entity even. This is wrong. Consciousness is either the result of a process or a process in and of itself, not something that exists as an item, object or entity. "Consciousness" describes a phenomenon, not an object, just like "taste". You wouldn't ask "Where is the taste of salt after I tasted salt and I don't taste it anymore?" You would know that the taste of salt was just a momentary experience and not an object that 'invaded' your mind only to leave you afterwards and go on traveling through the world in search of other people who happen to have salt in their mouth. The taste of salt is the result of a process, just as consciousness.

Furthermore, you imply that the "I" isn't the contents of your consciousness but consciousness itself. This is also wrong. You identify with the contents of your consciousness, not consciousness itself. Consciousness itself doesn't have psychological qualities like thought or emotion, these come into play in humans.

You are indeed confusing consciousness with ego, as Serkat pointed out. For consciousness [or God] there are no causal concepts, which words could convey, by definition. All action is manifestation, is existence, but consciousness is a state of non-action. And not in a way of not doing anything, it is also not not doing anything. It is outside of doing, it is the source of manifestation, one can only experience it, not rationalize it, because rationalization is also doing. The mind can only express the unconceivable in riddles, hence the concepts like infinity, perfection, eternity, God, etc. Naturally I am using vocabulary to describe this, which is worn out and repeated so many times, but that does not matter. Non-action is perfect acceptance. Non-action is the goal of life, action is trying to understand itself. Buddhists use the term dukkha for the state of manifested existence, and enlightenment for perfect acceptance.

So it is wrong to say that your consciousness will wake up in the same body tomorrow and it is also wrong to say that it does not wake up in your body the next morning. The mind can only express the impossible in an impossible way.

On the other hand, your memories and feelings, your personal existence, for which often the term ego is used, the action of looking at manifestation as manifestation of "yourself", will continue inside the little world that it is used to, and will wake up in a place limited by time and space in an mind-imposed time - ie the next morning in your bed. Your mind is a construct, similar to a machine, of trying to survive in an infinitely complex yet simple world, it follows the rules of the world. For your ego is confined in your mind. Consciousness is not. Consciousness does not have existence in the way the word existence implies it.

There is no way to use language to explain it. Language is bound to the phenomenal existence.

As a matter of fact we do change consciousness with other people every night, but of course we inherit their memories and so are none the wiser. Yesterday you were conscious in a different body.

(Prove me wrong).

Originally Posted by Xei

As a matter of fact we do change consciousness with other people every night, but of course we inherit their memories and so are none the wiser. Yesterday you were conscious in a different body.

sometimes it does seem like that

It's very strange to think of though. When you consider that, don't you feel that, although you know it should be strictly be possible that you are completely deluded, you are still completely certain that it is not the case? Like there is something more than memory, something very intrinsic to your consciousness, telling you otherwise?

Then again perhaps memory is consciousness. And I think that would make the whole question void, as you can only ever be you... which I suppose is a very good answer.